Chaos In College
by Siobhan Recca
Summary: Chemlab Junkies (Chemboys) manage to do something very stupid. A group of College Outcasts are left to pick up the pieces. Rated PG-13 for current languge, though rating may go up later.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I fail to claim ownership of Resident Evil or the majority of the people   
involved in this work of fiction. The main reason is that if I claimed to own the people,  
they'd probably get _really_ mad at me and come after me with a baseball bat,   
three swords, four maces, a couple axes, and at least one automatic rifle. These are _not_  
people to get mad at you. O_O;; Oh yeah, I also don't claim Jefferson College, which I   
have to include cause I borrow _really_ heavily from the campus layout for _this_ campus,  
which actually _doesn't_ exist in RL.  
  
Author's Note: Something you may need before you began to read, unless you _like_   
mispronoucing names. Siobhan is a gaelic name, which some will tell you means that no  
matter _how_ it is spelt, it isn't pronounced that way. In this case, Siobhan is pronounced  
the same as Shaun or Shawn. Generally speaking, most other names are pronounced as they   
are spelt.  
Chapter One   
The Beginning  
The young woman crouched relaxed, leaning slightly upon the unsheathed saber in   
her hands as she watched five young people move back and forth across the uneven surface   
of the stage before her, guarded blades flashing in the light as they flickered and danced   
in their owners' hands. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail near the base of her   
neck, and further slicked back from her face with the combined water from her recent   
shower as well as sweat from vigorous exercise. Her eyes were hazel, sometimes flashing   
emerald or even sapphire as she watched her students with the proprietary air of a proud   
teacher, the barest twisting of the corner of her lips upwards.   
  
Her clothing was dark, but neat. A black, silken dress shirt, high collared and   
long sleeved, fully buttoned, covered her torso. Black, rip-stop pants, cut in a fashion   
not unlike that of BDU trousers, bloused into highly polished leather boots, covered her   
legs. A leather belt, equally black, cinched about her waist, nearly two inches wide,   
held a knife, sheathed at a diagonal on her back, and the sheath of the saber in her   
hands on her left hip.   
  
Her eyes narrowed suddenly and a furrow of concentration appeared on her forehead,   
lips turning downwards into a disapproving frown. One of her students, a young man, maybe   
seventeen to eighteen years of age, had lunged forwards at his opponent, a girl that could   
count nineteen years, with a snarl of fury. The blue-gray guard that had covered the edge   
of his blade clattered soundlessly to the ground nearby.  
  
"Bailey, hold!" The woman in black barked, surging to her feet and across the stage   
to interpose her blade between his and the wide-eyed girl who now hid behind the woman.   
The black-clad woman's eyes flashed a dangerous emerald as she glared over the crossed   
blades at the still snarling man across from her. "This is _stage_ _combat_, Bailey. What   
the _hell_ do you think you're doing??"   
  
With a growl he shoved her back and away from him. "Bitch _cut_ me! I'm gonna make   
her pay!" He roared, going after the girl trying desperately to get away.  
  
He had strength and height on the woman in black, and his rage was giving him a   
significant edge in speed as well. Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned to a bare line.   
He had several advantages, but she had one thing he didn't, and that was experience.   
Hopefully, it would be enough.  
  
"You know I can't let you do that, Bailey." She informed him, once again   
interposing herself between Bailey and the girl. "Whatever happened, I know Jessie didn't   
mean it." The last came out more as a grunt than anything, as she caught his blade with   
her own.  
  
His eyes flashed with rage, there was no reasoning with him. "Bull_shit_,   
Siobhan! I _know_ she meant it!"   
  
Siobhan's expression went completely grim at that. Suddenly, she had been forced   
to shift from teacher to duelist and she didn't care for it one bit. But there was   
nothing she could do about it. It was her place as instructor to protect her students   
and keep them safe, even from one of their own.  
  
The tall, blonde man had done fine terrifying a smaller woman before, but this   
time he was in for a surprise. Siobhan not only had no intention of backing down, but   
she had taught him everything he knew about the blade in his hands, and so it wasn't long   
before he had been forced back onto the defensive. Stumbling backwards, awkwardly   
managing to somehow block the liquid smooth speed and skill of his instructor. But   
everyone's luck ends, and his ended with the stage. He fell hard down the nearly twelve   
foot drop into the pit. A single loud crashing sound came drifting up from the darkness   
signifying his hit, but nothing else.  
  
One of the other four students, a slender young man of around twenty or so called   
Andrew, ran for backstage and the stairs down to the pit to check on Bailey. Siobhan spun   
back around to look confusedly at the other three remaining.  
  
"What just happened here?" She asked. "Bailey always used to be a nice guy, why'd   
he just blow up all of a sudden? He on drugs or something?"   
  
"Bailey? On drugs? Ma'am, you're more likely to be on drugs than him!" Replied   
Amanda, a tiny little blonde who made up for lack of height or strength with the speed   
and faultless technique that made her the closest thing to a protégé that Siobhan had in   
the small group.  
  
The reply puzzled Siobhan even more though. "Then what was that? Where'd he come   
from today, anyways?"  
  
"Um... Chem, I think." This time the answer came from Jonas, a big husky brown   
bear kind of a man. "I was supposed to be there too, but I uh, I overslept today."   
  
Siobhan opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a terrible   
scream that suddenly cut off with a gurgling choking sound coming from the pit. She   
blinked a few times, before joining the rest of the group in backing away from the edge   
of the stage.   
  
"What was that?" Her voice was very calm and even, though she certainly wasn't   
feeling that way.   
  
"Sounded kinda like Andrew." Jonas replied, just as calmly, though he was more   
than a little pale.   
  
"Anyone feel like going down there and finding out why he screamed?" Siobhan   
asked, almost conversationally.  
  
A chorus of negative answers came back.   
  
"Good. Cause I didn't either, and it's always good to know you're not alone."   
Siobhan grinned, though she certainly didn't feel like it.   
  
Nervous chuckles came back, people starting to get a bit of their bravery back.   
  
Unfortunately, that would be when the door to the pit slammed open and a horrible   
groan emitted from the darkness beyond it. Siobhan took a nervous step forwards, putting   
herself and her sword between her students and whatever might be coming out from the   
doorway.  
  
The first thing anyone saw was a massive pale paw of a hand gripping the door   
frame. Bailey's hand, no one else's being _that_ big, except maybe Jonas. Blood streaked   
the hand as well as the arm that pulled through the darkness next.   
  
"Bailey? Are you alright?" Siobhan called tentatively, only getting another   
painful groan in response. "Where's Andrew, Bailey?"   
  
Bailey's head poked out of the darkness, it was bowed, face towards the ground,   
swaying gently from side to side as if to an unheard rhythm. His hair was disordered   
chaos, hanging in straggly limp waves around his head. His skin was unusually pale,   
lacking its normally ruddy glow. His face was mottled black, blue, yellow, and green   
with bruises. He moved slowly and every few moments an unearthly groan emanated from   
his lips.   
  
Then he stepped fully from the darkness and his head swung around towards them as   
if someone had pulled a string on a puppet. His right foot twisted back and around until   
his toe was pointed towards the left side of his body, the bone poking dully white from a   
tear in his pant leg. His left arm hung limp and useless by his side, bending three times   
in directions it should never bend in places not humanly designed to bend. His neck was   
swollen and bruised horribly, breath rasping hideously in the still air of the theatre.   
  
But the two most horrible things of all about his terrible appearance weren't the   
broken limbs or extensive bruising. No. One of the two most horrible things were the   
twisted hunk of metal that looked like a cymbal stand poking through his chest, leaving a   
hollow sucking hole. The other was the arm gripped tightly in his right claw-like hand.   
An arm still clad in the gray and green checked flannel sleeve of the shirt Andrew had   
been wearing when he went down the stairs to check on Bailey.   
  
"Oh my God..." Jessica whispered from behind Siobhan before turning to sob into   
the shoulder of Jonas, who had lifted the girl after he'd discovered that she'd sprained   
her ankle trying to get away from the enraged Bailey earlier.   
  
Siobhan swallowed hard, glancing over at Amanda who had removed the guard from   
her saber and stepped up to stand at her teacher's side with a determined look on her   
face. Siobhan took some measure of pride in her student, then turned back to the   
staggering hulk that apparently already killed one of her students and gathered her   
courage around her.  
  
"What have you done to Andrew, Bailey?" Siobhan asked cautiously, taking a step   
forwards, waving Amanda to stand back. "Bailey, listen to me. You're hurt real bad. Why   
don't you put that... that thing down, and let us help you."   
  
Bailey groaned again, louder than usual and took an increasingly quick step   
towards the small group.   
  
Siobhan's face went stern. "Bailey, hold! Stay right there and do not come any   
closer!" She barked, holding her saber out towards him.  
  
Bailey shuffled a bit closer.  
  
"Bailey, I'm warning you! You come a step closer and I _will_ stab you!"   
  
Bailey moaned an moved closer, reaching out with his broken arm towards them,   
mouth gaping open. He'd gotten close enough that they could make out the color of his   
eyes, no longer the bright cerulean that danced when he laughed, his eyes had paled to   
a washed out blue, nearly white. His mouth was wet scarlet against his mottled skin.   
  
Siobhan shouted and lunged forwards, lancing her saber through his right shoulder.   
The saber blade slid back out smoothly with no hesitation or grating as Siobhan returned   
to her original stance. The blade still shone in the light, not even a trace of blood   
marring is clear silver surface, much to Siobhan's shock.  
  
Bailey didn't even slow. He just growled low in his throat and staggered forwards.  
  
"Dammit, Bailey! No closer! One more step and you're dead!" Siobhan yelled, taking   
a step back, waving the others to move back as well.   
  
Bailey listened to the death threat about as much as he had the warning of injury.   
His steps shuffled him growling closer.   
  
Siobhan snarled, furious that she was left with no recourse. She stepped forwards   
once more, saber flashing in the stage lights and screaming though the air as it swept   
upwards from her left hip up to point at the ceiling over her right shoulder. Along the   
way, it tore into Bailey's throat, exploding out the other side in a shower of viscera and   
bone shards, but no spray.   
  
The body shuffled forwards a few more steps, much to their horror, before   
crumpling down to join the head on the ground. Siobhan stared blankly at her saber. No   
blood marred its surface, only a thick, reeking, black mucus-like substance. Her nose   
crinkled up in nauseated disgust before she managed to wipe the blade clean on Bailey's   
shirt. She turned to face the others who were staring in blank shock at her.  
  
"Y-y-you _killed_ him..." Amanda whispered, staring, not at Siobhan like the   
others but at Bailey's broken, beheaded remains.  
  
Siobhan shook her head. "He was _already_ dead, Amanda. Listen, you guys, I'm   
not gonna lie and tell you that I know what's going on here, cause I don't have a clue.   
Right now, I'm thinking the thing to do here is to get our gear and get the hell _out_   
of here."  
  
It took a couple of long, agonizing moments, mainly consisting of staring at each   
other, but the three students finally came to agreement with their instructor. It was   
time to get the hell out of Dodge.   
  
"Here's the plan, guys." Siobhan began, standing at a tense sort of ease at the   
edge of a circle made up of the two young women and a young man, not a one older than   
twenty except Siobhan. She made certain to make direct eye contact with each member of the   
tiny group. "Right now, we're gonna get over to the green room and snag our gear. After   
that, we can decide what to do next. Good for you?"  
  
Jessica, a auburn haired waif of a girl, spoke up first in a timid sort of voice.   
"What about Andrew?"  
  
Siobhan shook her head sadly, letting her gaze fall to the ground before looking   
up and meeting Jessica's green eyes. "Andrew's probably dead… or worse, like Bailey was.   
There's nothing we can do for him now. Anything else?"  
  
"Can you keep us safe from what happened to Bailey?" Jonas questioned, his deep   
bass voice rumbling darkly up from his feet.  
  
Siobhan just stared at him a moment before answering. "Listen, I don't know what   
happened to Bailey, so there is simply no way that I can guarantee that the same thing   
won't happen to you."  
  
"Alright. Least you're honest about it." Jonas rumbled, lifting Jessica up so that   
she wouldn't have to walk on her twisted ankle.   
  
The tiny blonde girl with clear, piercing violet eyes standing next to Siobhan had   
spent most of the time staring down at the ground and hadn't spoken a word. Finally,   
Amanda looked up and gazed quietly at Jonas and Jessica then glanced over at Siobhan.  
  
"I won't ask for any promises that I know you can't make." She began. "I just ask   
that you do your best to keep them safe." She gestured towards Jessica and Jonas. "Can you   
do that?"  
  
Siobhan smiled sadly, fully aware that two of her students had already been lost.   
"Yes. But, what about you?"  
  
Amanda smiled wanly back, though her expression soon turned solemn. "I can take   
care of myself. You taught me that. I'll go you wherever you tell me to. Where you   
lead, Siobhan, I'll follow."  
  
Siobhan nodded, then spun about on her heel. "Alright, guys. Let's be about it."  
  
As they stepped towards the doors, Siobhan reached down and pulled a cell phone   
from one of the ammo pockets on her trousers, dialed in a speed dial number and lifted the   
phone to her ear. A few moments later she had obviously been answered.  
  
"Yo, Jeffries. There's been a situation here at the college. I need you to seal   
down the Shelter. Yeah, completely, no one in or out without combined access pass, visual,   
and vocal conformation. Larder's full, right? Oh, thank the Blessed Hosts! Yeah. Yeah.   
Hey, listen, I'm gonna need you to rouse Alex and get her to prep the clinic, there's a   
good chance we'll be bringing in wounded. No, can't get into it now, I'll explain when I   
get there. Right. Right. See you soon. Siobhan out."   
  
Then the phone was locked down and returned to her pocket. Siobhan double timed   
to catch up to the rest of her group.  
  
And so the small group of four moved off the stage and out of the auditorium.   
Destination... Green Room. 


	2. Destination Green Room

Chapter Two  
Destination... Green Room  
The hallway was dead.   
  
It wasn't anything new, few people ever really in the hall between the theatre and   
the Green Room. Mostly because of the mythos that surrounded the people that used the   
Green Room as their hangout, but also because there really weren't all that many reasons   
to _come_ back there.   
  
However, because of the Green Room Crowd, most people that liked to consider   
themselves sane or normal didn't venture often into the Theatre Building unless they didn't  
have any recourse. Siobhan, though, didn't feel any sort of fear or worry that she might   
run into a member of the Green Room Crowd. In fact, she was rather hoping for just that   
thing to happen, on the premise that they would probably know what was going on if nothing   
else. But besides that, Siobhan wasn't afraid or worried mainly because she was a member   
of the Green Room Crowd.   
  
The Green Room Crowd weren't bad people, but they were a strange bunch. Yet for   
all their oddities they were a loyal, tight-knit group, each member knowing without a doubt   
that they could depend utterly upon each other for whatever they might need. They were   
also well connected and informed. If something happened on campus, the Green Room Crowd   
would know about it, and at times, take action to correct the situation. If any one would   
know what had happened that was causing things like what Siobhan and the others had just   
experienced, they would.  
  
Besides that, they were justifiably considered a dangerous bunch. From their   
nominal leader, so much as they might be considered to have one, Josh, who had a taste   
for... well, all things female, and a talent for explosives and guns, as well as computers   
and things of a mechanical nature. To Switch, a specialist that was lethal with a pair of   
machetes or a sword or cane in his hands, but just as dangerous with nothing but his bare   
hands, booted feet, and flaring trenchcoat. All the way down to Siobhan and Ko, the quiet   
ones, with an unusual level of talent with blades in the former and explosives in the   
latter.   
  
Generally speaking, if you were in a fight for your life, you'd want the Green   
Room Crowd on your side. Or at least, you sure as heck wouldn't want them anywhere near   
being ranged _against_ you. But, back to Siobhan and her three students.  
  
They moved slowly down the hall, Siobhan at the point and Amanda bringing up the   
rear, with Jonas carrying Jessica in the center. Their little group was nearly halfway to   
the Green Room when the door to the set and prop workroom suddenly exploded open, releasing   
the well-chewed shambling remains of the kids that had been working on the sets for the   
upcoming play.   
  
"_Shit_!" Siobhan yelled, leaping back to thrust through the heart of one of the   
creatures. It didn't even slow, just lunged forwards and raked its claw-like fingers across  
her chest, tearing open her shirt and leaving a series of painful and bloody gashes across   
her chest. Siobhan pressed her free hand against the bloody rows and caught her breath,   
glaring at the creature that had done so, then bringing her saber up and around in a   
backhanding slash that removed the creature's head.   
  
"Dammit!" She shouted, harvesting yet another head as she moved. "Beheading   
strokes only! Take off their heads! Nothing else stops them!"   
  
Amanda didn't waste breath to reply, just nodded and swept her saber hard through   
the neck of the snarling remains of the Director of the Drama Department. She was bleeding   
freely from a tear ripped through her cheek.   
  
Jessica and Jonas were fighting almost as a single being, Jonas having dropped to   
one knee and placed himself at waist level of most of the creatures, allowing Jessica the   
range she needed to lope off the drooling heads. She looked incredibly pale, but no where   
near as horrified as Jonas did when he was faced with the two children that had been being   
watched back in the workroom. He did what he had to, but shortly after Jessica was the only   
one fighting out of the pair because Jonas was doubled over loosing his lunch.   
  
With the four of them working together, it wasn't long before the ten that had come  
out of the workroom lay in rotting heaps around them. Thankfully, for everybody's   
sensibilities, the bodies of the two children had been covered by two of Siobhan and   
Amanda's victims. The four had managed to come through without any losses, though not   
without injury.  
  
Siobhan's wounds were deep and extremely painful, plus were probably going to   
fester and develop wound-rot, but the thing that was worrying her was how the loss of blood   
would effect her later on. She was just finishing pulling off her shredded dress shirt,   
undershirt and bra, heedless of the furiously blushing Jonas, when Amanda stepped over   
behind her and began binding a makeshift bandage around her chest. At first, Siobhan   
thought that she had gotten Jonas to give her his shirt, but then she noticed that Jonas   
was still fully clothed.   
  
Amanda stepped around Siobhan then, looking to be certain that she had covered the   
entirety of the injury and that it had stopped bleeding. She was a little smaller than   
Siobhan and had to look up in order to meet the unusually soft hazel gaze looking down at   
her with confusion. For Amanda stood there clad only in her black denim jeans and a gray   
sports bra, bright eyes looking quietly up at the woman who had spent the past five months   
patiently teaching her how to handle a saber on a stage.   
  
Blood was beginning to cake on her cheek from the gash she had gotten during the   
fight, and her slender, muscular shoulders and torso was bared, for the first time that   
Siobhan could remember. Amanda's uncovered skin revealed an old, intricate tracery of   
pale, thin scars, covering her shoulders, torso and even her back, that her shirt had   
always hidden prior. Siobhan's eyes hardened with hatred at whomever would cause such   
scars on a girl as sweet and diligent as Amanda.  
  
There was something else in those glistening violet eyes that Siobhan wasn't   
willing to acknowledge right then, and so, expression unchanging, she turned her head and   
walked away. Amanda's face suddenly took on a very wounded cast and she dropped that   
hopeful violet gaze to the ground, shoulders slumping despondently. Jessica noticed and   
looked worriedly between Siobhan and Amanda from where she was trying to help Jonas get   
cleaned up.  
  
Amanda stood silently in the middle of the ravaged battlefield-hallway, shivering   
slightly from the chill breeze that swept through the hall, staring blankly down at the   
off-white tiles on the floor, shoulders trembling as she tried desperately to hold back   
the tears shimmering in her eyes. Then a rough callused hand passed through her field of   
vision, causing her to blink startledly and allow two trails of tears to flow down her   
cheeks, stinging where they ran into the wound on her cheek. Then the roughened fingers   
of that callused hand gently grasped her chin and tugged her face upwards to meet the   
hazel eyes that she feared had rejected her out of hand.  
  
Siobhan gazed calmly down upon the young woman whose face she held in her hand,   
then brought up her free hand and the damp remains of her white cotton undershirt to begin  
cleaning the matted blood and clotting mess from her wound. Her emotions had no place   
here. She was very cool and professional about the matter, getting the wound clean with   
minimal fuss, then inspecting more closely. Amanda tried to glance down towards the safety   
of the floor again, but couldn't look further than Siobhan's chest, the awkward bandaging   
around it, and the slender silver chain with two rings on it. She colored darkly once   
she realized where she was staring and cast her eyes to the wall, but ended up meeting   
Jessica's eyes, who smirked knowingly, causing Amanda to blush even worse and finally   
settle for closing her eyes altogether. Siobhan noticed and raised a curious eyebrow,   
but chose to remain silent at the time.  
  
"You'll have to get that sewn shut later." Siobhan spoke almost too quietly to be   
heard, though Amanda picked up every word. "It'll probably scar anyways, but if it's sewn   
then it shouldn't be too bad."   
  
Siobhan unconsciously allowed her hand to drift gently along Amanda's cheek along   
the wound as she spoke. Amanda sighed softly and leaned into the unintentional caress,   
much to Siobhan's confusion. Siobhan moved to take her hand away, but Amanda grasped it   
tightly in her free hand.   
  
"I'll put up with anything, so long as you're there."   
  
Siobhan blinked a couple times at that. "O-okay." She murmured, drawing away from   
the girl that was beginning to frighten her a bit. "Let's on to the Green Room now, shall   
we?"  
  
And so they began again, a more battered group than before, still creeping down   
the hall that had never seemed so long before. Yet again, Siobhan took the point and   
Amanda the rear-guard. Not a word was spoken about what may, or may not, have passed   
between the two mere moments before.  
  
When the reached the first of the heavy grey doors, Siobhan tried to haul it open   
but discovered it was locked. So she started banging on it with the hilt of her saber and   
yelling. Jonas, carrying Jessica, came to stand directly behind her, and Amanda stood to   
the side of the door, saber out and ready for anything. Just because Siobhan was a member  
of the Green Room Crowd doesn't mean that Amanda was willing to trust all of them.  
  
The door came open so suddenly, Siobhan nearly fell inside, as she had been bracing   
herself against the door with her free hand. Then the sharp end of a cane sword came   
flashing out towards her head with intents to impale. Her eyes widened suddenly and she  
leaned back, bring her saber up and around intending to knock the blade away when Amanda's   
saber darted in and locked the cane sword in a scissor with Siobhan's blade. Siobhan glared   
furiously at the long, curly haired, bearded and mustached man in the battered top hat that  
held the hilt of the cane sword in one beringed hand.   
  
"Switch, you bloody arrogant asshole! You _ever_ do that again and I _swear_ that I   
am gonna give you forbidden carnal knowledge of my _claidach-mor_!" She snarled, shooting   
him a look that would have caused him to drop dead and turn to dust if looks could kill.   
Jonas, Jessica, and Amanda glanced at each other and shared the same sentiment that they   
_never_ wanted that look directed at any of _them_.  
  
Switch surprised everyone though when he suddenly dropped his cane-sword and lunged   
through the doorway, wrapping his arms around Siobhan's waist and picking her up into a   
whirling hug. It might have gone on for quite a while, but Amanda stopped it most   
precipitously, when she heard Siobhan grunt softly in pain from having her wound pressed   
into the hard buttons of Switch's trenchcoat, not to mention his seven or eight necklaces   
and their associated pendants, by directing the unguarded tip of her saber at his   
unprotected throat. He stopped dead and let his eyes run up the saber blade to Amanda's   
stern, unforgiving face.  
  
"Put her down now." Amanda stated in a cold voice that brooked no arguments.   
  
"I see you've gotten yourself a bodyguard, Siobhan." He said in reply, a startledly   
awkward grin on his face as he carefully set Siobhan back on her own feet.  
  
Siobhan winced and let her free hand rest upon her injury, curling a bit around it   
as she stood there. Amanda noticed and her expression went from cold to worried in an   
instant, hurrying over next to their teacher cúm leader and wrapping a supporting arm   
about her waist, before returning her cold glare to Switch.   
  
"That's some bodyguard you got there, Siobhan..." Switch tried yet again, finally   
feeling contrite now that he noticed that Siobhan was injured. "Um... we didn't think you'd   
make it."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Siobhan began, only to have to cut off abruptly and   
whirl about to take off a encroaching creature's skull with a swift backhand. However, she   
also garnered another set of parallel gashes, this time in her left shoulder. "Dammit!   
That is _it_! Will someone _kindly_ tell me what the fucking _hell_ is going on here?!"   
  
Switch shrugged then ushered the four into the Green Room. Once inside with the   
doors once again secured, Amanda forced Siobhan to, rather reluctantly, sit down upon the   
piece of Green Room furniture fondly referred to as the Couch That Ate Chicago, or C-tac   
for short. It promptly lived up to it's name causing Siobhan to sink deeply into its   
thread-bare, red surface with a grimace of distaste on her face. Amanda, having gotten   
Siobhan seated and apparently out of trouble, redirected her attention to Switch.  
  
"First aid kit." She was very terse when it came to speaking with the tall,   
somewhat imposing man.   
  
"Huh?" On the other hand, given Switch's noted lack of eloquence, this may have   
been a good thing.  
  
"I need a first aid kit. Do you have one?" She drew out each word slowly as if   
speaking to a somewhat slow child.   
  
"Oh. Yeah. Over there." Switch finally replied, directing her to the alcove off to   
the side.   
  
While she went and retrieved the battered old grayish-green tackle-box that served   
as the Drama Department's first aid kit from the 'kitchenette' area of the Green Room,   
Switch settled his long, lanky form in a chair across from the grimacing Siobhan. Hearing   
them start to talk, Amanda paused just around the corner.   
  
"So, what happened to you?"   
  
Siobhan glared at him. "Had saber-class in the theatre. One of the kids, Bailey,   
went wild for no real reason. Highly unlike him." As soon as Siobhan referred to her   
students as 'kids' Amanda's shoulders slumped, she sighed then walked out of the room.   
  
Heading towards Siobhan with the kit, she didn't have quite the same spirit, but   
when Siobhan moved to get away from her and the kit, quite a bit of it returned.  
  
"Stay _there_!" Amanda growled, pushing Siobhan back down into the C-tac and the   
straddling her lap so that she couldn't escape while she tended her shoulder. Switch   
couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.  
  
"Shut up, you! I didn't see _you_ out there helping us out!" Siobhan growled over   
Amanda's shoulder at Switch.  
  
"Yeah, well, I was told to stay here and make sure none of those things gets in   
here. But, anyways, you were saying about Bailey?"   
  
"Kid went wild, started going after Jessie. I got between, ended up running him   
off the edge of the stage into the pit." Siobhan suddenly broke off with a hiss of pain   
as Amanda dumped rubbing alcohol directly onto the gashes. Siobhan glared at the smaller   
girl, but she just smiled sweetly back.  
  
"Ouch. Harsh." Switch winced in thought of the twelve foot drop.   
  
"Yeah, well, Andrew went down to see if he was okay. I tried figuring out what   
the hell just happened. No drugs. -Shhhessst!_ No nothing. Only thing I got was that   
he'd just been in Chem. _Hhssst!_ Then we get a scream. Nasty thing that. We figure   
it was Andrew but none of us were willing to check it _Hhssst!_ out. Next thing we know   
_Bailey's_ coming up the stairs. Only he's all busted and not right... _Shhhessst!_ and   
he's carrying Andrew's arm to boot.  
  
Well, I tried getting him to stop by talking _Hhssst!_ him down. _That_ didn't   
work. Neither did stabbing him in the shoulder. He just kept _Shhhessst!_ coming, and he   
wasn't bleeding neither... so... I took his head off. Nasty black bile in there. Yuck."   
Amanda finally finished dumping alcohol on the gashes and had moved to bandaging them up   
properly, unlike the binding around her chest, which Siobhan was quite adamant about   
refusing to let her change now that they were in the Green Room.  
  
"Sounds like you got to meet one of these undead things." Switch began, but   
Siobhan cut him off.  
  
"Bailey wasn't the only one. All the set workers are gone, plus West, his wife   
and the two kids. They're currently Rest In Pieces in the back end of the hall."  
  
"Shit. We were afraid they'd been changed when we heard the banging from the   
prop room door. "  
  
"What's going on here, Switch? Come on, talk to me here. Give me something I can   
use."  
  
"Here's what we know. Around eleven or so this afternoon some of the Chemboys   
got up to some sort of hijinks in the lab. Whatever it is they did the whole thing went   
up like a rocket, ker-BLAM!" Switch began, sitting back in the chair. "Fire was fierce   
and hot. We figured wasn't nobody got out alive. Then the first 'survivor' comes   
staggering out. Looks like shit, but we're figuring, guy got blown up deserves to look   
like shit, so no one thinks anything of it. Soon we got, four, five, _six_ of these   
'survivors' come out of the rubble.   
  
"Everyone's all thrilled that they all made it back out, so Josh and I started   
heading back here. That's when the screaming started. One of the 'survivors' had _bitten_  
out the throat of some guy! When they tried to stop him, it, _whatever_ nothing worked,   
until some hotshot P.I.T. went and pegged him a skullshot. Critter went down like a   
gunnysack full of rocks. But by that time others've been bit, and now the _first_ guy   
that got bit's gone and climbing to his feet and shambling around.  
  
"Josh and I aren't fools. We high-tailed it back here like the hounds of hell   
were at our heels and locked in with Monkey and Ko."  
  
Siobhan stared blankly at Switch, taking it all in.   
  
"So... you're telling me that not only did the Chemboys go and make some sort of   
mutagen that makes people into zombies, but it's fucking _contagious_, too?!" She finally   
yelped, glaring at him.   
  
Jessica and Jonas exchanged a look at Siobhan's enraged reaction and decided   
to stay quiet over in the two chairs against the back wall.  
  
"God-fucking-_dammit_!" Siobhan raged, wanting to pace, but being held down by   
Amanda still. "It's like we're trapped in some kind of bloody video game! It's like   
Resident _fucking_ Evil for crying out loud! What the _fuck_?!"  
  
Suddenly they were distracted by a series of knocks on the door. Switch climbed to   
his feet and opened it cautiously to admit Josh, Ko and Monkey, plus a heavy-duty football   
time and a powerful looking woman in a P.I.T. uniform. Josh collapsed heavily to the right   
of Siobhan on the C-tac and Ko dropped down on the left. Monkey just sprawled down on the   
floor and their two followers found seats in the chairs around the room.   
  
Josh's eyes rolled across to spot a shirtless Amanda straddling and holding down an   
equally shirtless Siobhan and he couldn't help the sly, though tired grin that spread   
across his mustache and goateed face. "Heh. Finally got you a girl, eh, Siobhan?" Siobhan   
blushed furiously, which in turn caused Amanda to blush, which just made Josh laugh all the   
more. "Good to see you alive though, should of known you'd hack though."  
  
Then his attention turned to the rest of the room, and he stopped teasing. "There's   
no one else left. We're it. And we're good as trapped here, with no food and no water."  
  
Siobhan was about ready to descend into fury again, but Amanda grasped her chin   
with slender fingers and forced her to look at her. "Listen to me, Siobhan. You need to   
calm down. You're not helping anyone in a rage like that.'  
  
Siobhan took a couple deep breaths, and finally gained control of herself.   
Unfortunately for Amanda though, her actions had brought the still freely bleeding gash   
on Amanda's cheek to her attention. Grabbing Amanda's chin, she dabbed the wound clean   
again then glanced over at Josh, as she fished a sterile needle packet out of the first   
aid kit.   
  
"Say, Josh, you got any fishing line on you?"   
  
"Fishing line? Yeah, just a moment." And he leaned over the arm of the C-tac and   
popped open the massive tackle-box that contained his Warcraft models and pulled out a   
roll of fine nylon fishing line before handing it to Siobhan. "This work?"  
  
Siobhan accepted it and looked it over. "Yeah, it should do. Now I need a favor   
from you and Ko. I need to stretch her out so I can work on her face. Ko, she's gonna   
be a lot on your lap, please keep her from kicking me if you don't mind. Josh..."  
  
"Yeah, I'll keep her steady."   
  
Amanda looked at Siobhan with an expression of startled worry on her face, then   
Siobhan grabbed her around the waist, lifted her up and laid her down. Before she had   
hardly any time to think, Ko had grabbed hold of her legs and wasn't about to let her   
move, and Josh was holding her head very still on Siobhan's lap, turned slightly towards   
Siobhan's stomach to put the gash upright.   
  
Siobhan leaned down and whispered in Amanda's ear, causing the smaller girl to   
shiver. "Amanda, listen to me. Your wound hasn't stopped bleeding. You're not going to   
enjoy this much, but I need to sew it up before it gets any worse."   
  
To Siobhan's surprise, Amanda rolled her eyes so that she could look up at Siobhan,   
then reached up and grabbed her arm with both hands. "So long as you're here..."  
  
Siobhan backed off then and readied the needle and 'thread' then soaking them in   
a shallow dish full of rubbing alcohol. Pushing Amanda's blonde hair away from the wound   
and taking a deep breath, she set needle to flesh and pushed it in. Amanda squealed   
softly in pain, violet eyes clenching shut. Siobhan carefully stitched all the way   
through both edges then pulled it closed and knotted it shut before moving to the next   
stitch.   
  
She worked very carefully and diligently, setting the stitches small and close   
together. It took nearly one hundred stitches to close the four inch long gash in Amanda's   
cheek, each one painstakingly drawn closed and tied. By the time she finished, Amanda had   
tears freely rolling down her cheeks and had buried her head into Siobhan's stomach,   
despite Josh's best effort to hold her, her arms wrapped tightly around the slightly taller   
woman's waist, and the makeshift bandage covering Siobhan's wounded chest was scarlet from   
both hers and Amanda's blood, her hands were coated and she'd had to pause several times   
to wipe them off.   
  
But finally she was finished, and despite her better judgment, or perhaps just to   
spite it, she pulled the sobbing girl up into her arms and held her as she cried. 


End file.
